Darrel E. Bigham's Books

Evansville

The World War II Years

By: Darrel E. Bigham

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Evansville

The World War II Years

By: Darrel E. Bigham

World War II changed the face of Evansville, Indiana. In December 1941, the city was still recovering from the Great Depression, yet within three months, a series of blockbuster announcements transformed the region. Several corporations received major defense contracts to manufacture parts and ammunitions, while two new installations were launched: a shipyard to construct Landing Ship Tanks and a factory to manufacture P47 airplanes. Industrial employment rose dramatically, producing social, economic, and racial tensions as thousands of newcomers poured into a city that lacked adequate housing and public facilities. The citizens of Evansville persevered, and most workers stayed following the end of the war. One federal official commented that the citynot just its many defense plantsdeserved the coveted Army-Navy E (for excellence) award.

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Page Count

136

Publisher

Arcadia Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

1439615489

ISBN 13

9781439615485

New Harmony, Indiana

By: Connie A. Weinzapfel,Darrel E. Bigham,Susan R. Branigin

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New Harmony, Indiana

By: Connie A. Weinzapfel,Darrel E. Bigham,Susan R. Branigin

New Harmony is a town like no other. A community that began almost two hundred years ahead of its time, New Harmony was a spiritual sanctuary that later became a haven for international scientists, scholars, and educators who sought equality in communal living. It was impossible for George Rapp to realize the events he would set into motion when he purchased 20,000 acres of land on the Wabash River in 1814 and subsequently sold it to social reformer Robert Owen ten years later. This simple community came to have an immense impact on our countrys art and architecture, public education system, womens suffrage movement, Midwestern industrial development, and more. This book contains over 150 historic images produced by two 19th-century New Harmony photographersHomer Fauntleroy and William Frederick Lichtenberger. These photographs show historic buildings of New Harmony, many of which have been razed over the years. They also demonstrate the importance of the Wabash River and its influence on settlement and commerce. The people of the community are captured at work and at play, and the reader is allowed a look at the downtown business district of the past and the farms surrounding it.

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Page Count

132

Publisher

Arcadia Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

1439627320

ISBN 13

9781439627327

On Jordan's Banks

Emancipation and Its Aftermath in the Ohio River Valley

By: Darrel E. Bigham

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On Jordan's Banks

Emancipation and Its Aftermath in the Ohio River Valley

By: Darrel E. Bigham

The story of the Ohio River and its settlements are an integral part of American history, particularly during the country's westward expansion. The vibrant African American communities along the Ohio's banks, however, have rarely been studied in depth. Blacks have lived in the Ohio River Valley since the late eighteenth century, and since the river divided the free labor North and the slave labor South, black communities faced unique challenges. In On Jordan's Banks, Darrel E. Bigham examines the lives of African Americans in the counties along the northern and southern banks of the Ohio River both before and in the years directly following the Civil War. Gleaning material from biographies and primary sources written as early as the 1860s, as well as public records, Bigham separates historical truth from the legends that grew up surrounding these communities. The Ohio River may have separated freedom and slavery, but it was not a barrier to the racial prejudice in the region. Bigham compares early black communities on the northern shore with their southern counterparts, noting that many similarities existed despite the fact that the Roebling Suspension Bridge, constructed in 1866 at Cincinnati, was the first bridge to join the shores. Free blacks in the lower Midwest had difficulty finding employment and adequate housing. Education for their children was severely restricted if not completely forbidden, and blacks could neither vote nor testify against whites in court. Indiana and Illinois passed laws to prevent black migrants from settling within their borders, and blacks already living in those states were pressured to leave. Despite these challenges, black river communities continued to thrive during slavery, after emancipation, and throughout the Jim Crow era. Families were established despite forced separations and the lack of legally recognized marriages. Blacks were subjected to intimidation and violence on both shores and were denied even the most basic state-supported services. As a result, communities were left to devise their own strategies for preventing homelessness, disease, and unemployment. Bigham chronicles the lives of blacks in small river towns and urban centers alike and shows how family, community, and education were central to their development as free citizens. These local histories and life stories are an important part of understanding the evolution of race relations in a critical American region. On Jordan's Banks documents the developing patterns of employment, housing, education, and religious and cultural life that would later shape African American communities during the Jim Crow era and well into the twentieth century.

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Page Count

607

Publisher

University Press of Kentucky

Published Date

ISBN 10

0813188318

ISBN 13

9780813188317

Towns and Villages of the Lower Ohio

By: Darrel E. Bigham

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Towns and Villages of the Lower Ohio

By: Darrel E. Bigham

America. Enterprise. Metropolis. Cairo. Rome. These are a few of the grandly named villages and towns along the lower Ohio River. The optimism with which early settlers named these towns reveals much about the history of American expansion. Though none became the next great American city, it was not for lack of ambition or entrepreneurial spirit. Why didn't a major city develop on the lower Ohio? What geographic, economic, and cultural factors caused one place to prosper and another to wither? How did Evansville become the largest and most influential city in the region? How did smaller cities such as Owensboro and Paducah succeed? Regardless of how appealing a locale looked on the map, luck, fate, culture, and leadership all helped determine success or failure. The fate of Cairo, Illinois—on paper an ideal site for a metropolis—emphasizes the extent to which human decisions, rather than physical landscape, affected a town's prosperity. The location of a canal or railroad terminus, the construction of a factory, or the activities of local boosters all mattered greatly. Darrel Bigham examines these towns and villages from the 1790s, when the first settlements appeared, to the 1920s, when the modern pattern of life associated with automobiles, economic upheaval, and mass culture emerged. Bigham's intimate knowledge of the area offers a true sense of the towns and villages and discloses fundamental truths about the workings of the American dream.

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Page Count

496

Publisher

University Press of Kentucky

Published Date

ISBN 10

0813189632

ISBN 13

9780813189635

Towns and Villages of the Lower Ohio

By: Darrel E. Bigham

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Towns and Villages of the Lower Ohio

By: Darrel E. Bigham

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496

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University Press of Kentucky

Published Date

ISBN 10

0813189632

ISBN 13

9780813189635

Evansville

The World War II Years

By: Darrel E. Bigham

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Evansville

The World War II Years

By: Darrel E. Bigham

World War II changed the face of Evansville, Indiana. In December 1941, the city was still recovering from the Great Depression, yet within three months, a series of blockbuster announcements transformed the region. Several corporations received major defense contracts to manufacture parts and ammunitions, while two new installations were launched: a shipyard to construct Landing Ship Tanks and a factory to manufacture P-47 airplanes. Industrial employment rose dramatically, producing social, economic, and racial tensions as thousands of newcomers poured into a city that lacked adequate housing and public facilities. The citizens of Evansville persevered, and most workers stayed following the end of the war. One federal official commented that the city--not just its many defense plants--deserved the coveted Army-Navy "E" (for excellence) award.

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Age

Page Count

136

Publisher

Arcadia Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

0738534420

ISBN 13

9780738534428

On Jordan's Banks

Emancipation and Its Aftermath in the Ohio River Valley

By: Darrel E. Bigham

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On Jordan's Banks

Emancipation and Its Aftermath in the Ohio River Valley

By: Darrel E. Bigham

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

607

Publisher

University Press of Kentucky

Published Date

ISBN 10

0813188318

ISBN 13

9780813188317

Book's by Darrel E. Bigham

Evansville

Evansville

New Harmony, Indiana

New Harmony, Indiana

On Jordan's Banks

On Jordan's Banks

Towns and Villages of the Lower Ohio

Towns and Villages of the Lower Ohio

Towns and Villages of the Lower Ohio

Towns and Villages of the Lower Ohio

Evansville

Evansville

On Jordan's Banks

On Jordan's Banks

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